legislators

State Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Bill Ketron won his party’s nomination to become Rutherford County mayor Tuesday in a three-candidate race. There’s no Democrat the ballot for the general election, virtually assuring he will succeed current mayor Ernest Burgess, who is running to succeed Ketron in the Senate.

Senate Democratic Leader Lee Harris won the Democratic nomination for mayor of Shelby County on Tuesday while David Lenoir, now county trustee, won the Republican nomination, according to final unofficial returns.

Harris, who is not seeking reelection to his state Senate seat, defeated former county commissioner Sidney Chism 34,081 votes to 10,425 votes in the Democratic primary. The GOP primary was also lopsided with Lenoir collecting 18,408 votes to 8,655 for runner-up Terry Roland in the three-candidate contest.

Glenn Jacobs, a former professional wrestler known by the stage name “Kane,” won the Republican nomination as Knox County mayor Tuesday by 17 votes, according to final unofficial returns from the county election commission. He had 14,633 votes with runner-up Brad Angiers at 14,616 and third candidate, Bob Thomas, at 11,296.

State Rep. Roger Kane (R-Knoxville), who decided to seek election as Knox Country clerk rather than another term in the state House, lost to Sherry Witt, who is currently serving as county registrar of deeds. Witt had 23,168 votes to Kane’s 14,620.

Democrats have filed as candidates for almost all seats in a Tennessee General Assembly that is now controlled by a Republican Supermajority and party leaders say that sets up more contested partisan legislative races than they can remember from recent history.

By the party’s initial count, there were Democratic candidates running in 97 of the 99 state House seats and 15 of the 17 Senate seats that are on the November, 2018, general election ballot. But a final review of qualifying petitions indicates there are three Republicans each in the Senate and House with no Democrat qualifying to oppose them.

Calling himself a “coalition builder,” Democratic state Rep. Harold Love Jr. has announced he will be running for Nashville mayor at the same time he’s running for reelection to the state House, reports The Tennessean. If he wins both races, Love says he’ll resign from the House District 58 seat.

The state Court of Appeals has rejected an attempt by 52 state representatives and 19 state senators to intervene in a divorce dispute over child custody between Sabrina Witt and Erica Witt, two Knoxville women who were married in Washington, D.C., reports the News Sentinel.

The opinion, written by Court of Appeals Chief Judge Michael Swiney also declares that the legislators should pay costs involved in appealing the trial court’s decision dismissing their motion to intervene.

State Rep. David Byrd has been accused by three women of having inappropriate sexual contact with them while he was a high school basketball coach and they were teenagers, according to WSMV. House Speaker Beth Harwell promptly called for the Waynesboro Republican to resign from his House seat after being provided a secretly-recorded tape of Byrd apologizing to one of the women. Continue reading →

Mae Beavers, who resigned from the state Senate last year to make a short-lived run for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, has obtained a qualifying petition to now run for Wilson County mayor, reports the Wilson Post.

She will face Incumbent Wilson County Mayor Randall Hutto, who has already filed his qualifying petition. Another potential candidate, Bob Richie, has picked up a petition but has not filed, according to the county election commission office.